


like the echo of a crashing wave, you called to me (and i answered)

by ZephyrEden



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen, i say knowing i will prolly still be using that tag a lot, won't be able to use that tag much anymore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-03
Updated: 2019-02-03
Packaged: 2019-10-21 21:22:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17650094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZephyrEden/pseuds/ZephyrEden
Summary: and who is he to not live up to the expectations thrust upon him?my piece for the Treasured Memories zine.





	like the echo of a crashing wave, you called to me (and i answered)

He will never forget the feeling of a key in his hand.

It’s a feeling that haunts Riku from the moment he leaves the stranger on the beach to now; standing on the same beach, looking at the same sunset, the same invisible weightiness still pressing against his palm. He stares down at his empty hand, curling his fingers in tightly until there’s no room to feel anything else.

“Hey, you’re the one that yelled at us for being lazy, but now _I’m_ the one doing all the work!”

He closes his eyes and he can still see the sinking red of the horizon bleeding through his eyelids and he knows deep inside that somewhere else, far away from here, there’s a sun that’s rising. He plasters a smirk on his face before he turns around, a hand on his hip while he radiates a smugness that he knows has come to be expected of him. And who is he to not live up to the expectations thrust upon him?

“Doesn’t look like you’ve done much,” he taunts because he knows the exact reaction he’ll get in return. Sora’s scowl doesn’t disappoint. Riku laughs as he joins Sora on the logs that will become their raft, grabbing rope to tie the wood together tight enough that they’ll be unsinkable.

“You’ve been doing that a lot lately,” Sora pipes up after he gets sick of the sound of waves and seagulls, a noisy sort of silence they’ve always known here on the islands.

There’s a heaviness weighing down on Riku, one that’s more comfortable lingering in his chest instead of staying in his hands. “Doing what?” he grunts, as if he isn’t aware of what this is about.

“You know,” Sora shrugs as he laces the tarp that will be the sail to the long branch acting as the mast. “Just… staring out at the ocean, like you’re daydreaming or something. I mean, you’ve always done that, ever since we were kids, but… I don’t know. Now it’s more.”

He yanks the knot tight enough that he won’t be able to undo it and stands, looking down on Sora. “The only one dreaming around here is you.”

Sora frowns, his face scrunching up defensively. “Hey-“

“I don’t wanna hear it from the one that was napping on the beach.” He says it with a smirk but there’s no denying the edge in his tone that even Sora isn’t dense enough to miss. He sighs. “It’s almost dinner time. You should go back to the main island. I’ll finish up here.”

It’s only once Sora has left and the stars are dotting the dark sky that he finishes pulling the raft together. That’s okay, though. He has other things to do here, anyways.

His echoing footsteps as he enters the secret place feel less and less like a warning these days and more like an invitation to test his luck. With both burdened palms pressed flush against the wooden door at the back of the cave, he pushes with all of his strength. When it doesn’t budge, his fingers dig along the grooves, trying to pry the door from its hinges. He isn’t surprised when it remains closed. It never stops him from trying again.

The door’s existence has been particularly bothersome lately, ever since he first proposed the idea of building a raft and sailing away from their tiny world. If he didn’t know any better, he would think someone else was putting the thought of it in his head.

“So, Kairi’s home is out there somewhere, right?”

It’s Sora’s question that snaps him back to the present, back to the brilliant sunset glistening against the water. If things work out, this could be the last sunset they see here together for a while. Maybe even ever.

“Could be,” he answers. He knows it is. It has to be. “We’ll never know by staying here.”

“But how far could a raft take us?”

“Who knows?” The raft is just a backup plan, anyways. “If we have to, we’ll think of something else.” This has to work.

“So, suppose you get to another world,” Kairi cuts in with a carefree giggle bubbling past her lips, like it’s not _her_ world they’re talking about. “What would you do there?”

“Well, I haven’t really thought about it,” he says and he almost can’t believe how easily the lie slides off his tongue. “It’s just… I’ve always wondered why we’re here on this island. If there are any other worlds out there, why did we end up on this one?” He’s rambling now. He should stop. “And suppose there are other worlds… Then ours is just a little piece of something much greater. So we could have just as easily ended up somewhere else, right?”

“I don’t know,” Sora shrugs, laying back on the winding trunk of the paopu tree.

Riku can’t help but smile. “ _Exactly_. That’s why we need to go out there and find out. Just sitting here won’t change a thing. It’s the same old stuff. So let’s go.”

Kairi looks at him and he knows without looking that it’s with the same expression Sora was wearing yesterday. “You’ve been thinking a lot lately, haven’t you?”

He can’t tell her the real reason. _That_ secret, it’s the oldest promise he has, one that he’s managed to keep. And Kairi doesn’t know about the other girl, either, the one with blue hair. She doesn’t know the stories about the man who decided the world was too small, so he left to make it bigger. Neither of them know how he longs to be like that man, how he wants to become a story that proves there’s more beyond their island than just the sea.

He can’t tell her the truth. “Thanks to you. If you hadn’t come here, I probably would’ve never thought of any of this.” He hopes she can’t tell that he’s lying through his teeth. “Kairi… thanks.”

She’ll forgive him for lying once she meets _him_ , once they get her back to her world. He knows she will. He knows it.

Just like he knows that tonight is the night he will open the door. He can feel it even now, in the back of his head and heavy in his chest. The door is waiting for him.

And who is he to not live up to the expectations thrust upon him?

**Author's Note:**

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